The One With the Roller Palace Fundraiser

This past Friday, Emmie and I took Bri and Kiff to the Roller Palace for a school fundraiser. It was the first time we did it and it turned out to be a great event.

It was excellent to see how far Bri and Kiff had come with their skating since last being here. Taking ice skating lessons certainly helped....but they got increasingly better as the night went on.

It was great to see them interact with their fellow classmates...and great to check in with parents, too.

However, it was slightly bittersweet because, after 37 years, the Roller Palace is actually closing this June. It had been a staple up here for years, much like Roller Kingdom in my neck of the woods growing up, and many of the parents at the school remember going here as kids. Wow! 


It will be missed....but, if this is indeed the final swan song for an indoor roller arena and fundraiser here, it could not pick a better way to go out

The One Where the Patriots Go to the AFC Championship

Yesterday, it became evident that we, as a family, have finally hit that stage where it is fun to watch a football game together because we watched the AFC playoff game between the Patriots and Kansas City chiefs.


Sure, Bri and Kiff may not have been totally focused on the game, but with all the snacks we were serving, who could blame them.


We had a ton of fun watching the game. The Patriots played well with all of their injured players making a return. It was like the Patriots of earlier in the season as they raced out to an impressive lead and the defense was able to contain the chiefs...until they made a late score with 1:18 in the game to make it tight.

Still, the Patriots were able to win 27-20 and advance to their fifth AFC championship in a row (and 11th in the 22 years that Robert Kraft has owned the team...and 10th since Tom Brady has played. Wow). The only other team to go to 5 straight conference championships were the Raiders from 1973 to 1977.  Impressive.

Go Pats!

The One Where We Put The Christmas Items Away

Alas it has hit

That dreaded weekend.

The one where we put our Christmas trees away.

Always dark and depressing at first....but a hint of things to come.

Until next year, we bid you adieu Christmas tree, Christmas decorations, Christmas plates.


You will be here again before we know it.

The One With the Newport Mansions

Yesterday, Emmie, Bri, Kiff and I went to the Newport Mansions. Kiff has been interested in mansions as of late, so we decided to visit.

Before we arrived, we had to take brief detour in West Bridgewater - home of my dad. Bri was feeling a little blah and Kiff had to use the bathroom, so we got off at the main road which I remember from days gone by. What a nice, albeit brief, stroll down memory lane.

We arrived at the Breakers around 2:00 PM or so. I was amazing. I had not been there in a while. Although not much has changed, they did do an audio tour now, which everyone can enjoy. They had a kid and adult one. I did the adult one, but everyone else enjoyed the kids.

We strolled through the mansion, which took about 90 minutes, and the kids thoroughly enjoyed the place. Wow! To believe people lived there.

When we were done, we reveled in the beauty of the outside then made our way home down Ocean Drive with is scenic and beautiful vistas.

All and all a great way to usher in the second day of 2015.